What Would a Faction War-Based DLC in Destiny 2 Look Like?

One of the best things about the Destiny Franchise, in my opinion, is the Factions. In Destiny 1, players had the options to represent either Future War Cult, New Monarch or Dead Orbit. Pledging allegiance to each of these factions gave you access to faction-specific gear and weapons. And if you had multiple characters like I did, you could pledge to more than one if you wanted to. What appealed to me, aside from the idea that it felt like I was enlisting in some in-world organization outside the Light vs Darkness struggle all of us were in, was what each organization was about. Their ideologies, methods and so on. What they say, do was why that was the case.

Future War Cult was all about secrecy. Their Leader, Lakshmi-2 is a refugee-turned representative, who watched the world burn multiple times spanning all the way back from the Dark Age. In terms of her secrecy, the FWC are a military-based faction who believe the coming Darkness is inevitable, no matter what way you look at things. They are also entertained by the concept of alternate universes, especially since its founder, Maya Sundaresh and her team were victims of a Vex-based experiment on Venus during the Golden Age. Since then, their actions are all in preparation of the coming fights, regardless if they're considered insane or not. However, granted they foresaw the Red War, which gives their predictions some credibility.

Contrary to the Future War Cult, who claim the war with the Darkness is inevitable, Dead Orbit's ideology is that the Traveler is of no use to them, and they seek to escape before the Darkness reaches them. You can liken them to the story of Noah's Ark, where Noah warned the people of the coming deluge and all but several of his family members heeded the call whereas the rest of the world drowned. Begrudgingly, they remain on earth, their team of specialist and tacticians equipping their followers with gear that dominate in the crucible (Hung Jury anyone?) If at all else, they are willing to do whatever it takes to bring humanity to the stars in search for a new home, no matter if its legal or not. This especially comes after the Red War, where Dead Orbit uses that as a jumping point, as to why Earth is not safe to reside in anymore.

The last of the three and my choice is the New Monarchy. This faction has a very "Make Last City Great Again" mentality, seeking above all else to bring the last city and by extension, humanity back to the Golden Age that was lost. They encourage unity among the people and feel that the Speaker and the rest of the Consensus are in opposition to that ideal. They believe in the power of the people and that they need a Monarch to govern them, as opposed to a governing body filled with weak alliances between the factions. The results of the Red War struck them hard, in the sense that their preaching for unity didn't work quite as well as they hoped. Even today, their supplies lay scattered about in the Tower, with Suraya Hawthrone, a new Vendor, being the new unofficial beacon for the city Post-War, with idolizers "following her lead" in a sense by swiping supplies from New Monarchy.

Depending on who you resonate with (or which gear set most appeals to you) you had the opportunity to choose from them and wear their colors proudly. But, if you dig hard enough, you discover that there were plenty of other factions within the universe of Destiny. Destiny is a much bigger universe than the characters we've met and the places we visited. As we know at this point the struggle between Light and Dark is becoming thinner as time passes, leaving the morality of the Destiny Unverse in a gray area. That being said, its not unusual for Guardians to explore bits and pieces of what exactly they are fighting.

The Faction known as Symmetry, was a faction that was lead by a Warlock named Ulan-Tan, who preached that Darkness and light were symmetrical. Like a coin, they were eternally bounded and one couldn't exist without the other. As his followers grew it became evident to the Consensus that it was a potential threat. However, he eventually died before anything could come to fruition and as such the Faction has grown quiet.

The Concordat Faction, a faction we learn in our first encounter on the map Bannerfall, in Destiny, was a faction that attempted to overthrow the Consensus after the infamous Twilight Gap conflict. New Monarchy took responsibility and their Guardians brought down the group and drove its leader off. Ikora's Hidden report that Lysander, Concordat's leader is plotting a return, and is secretly recruiting followers, many of whom are a part of FWC currently.

To the dismay of many, Destiny 2 didn't open with the Faction vendors in their usual positions. Even worse, Faction Rallies became a new monthly event, where Guardians pledged to a specific faction (and to make it "meaningful" just one per account) and grinded their way via activities to give their faction enough points to win the rally. It, was disappointing, to say the least. The Weapons weren't all that spectacular, and if you were like me, one event had three exclusive catalysts that were only accessible to the faction who won the rally. The community responded by unanimously picking one faction at a time, to guarantee obtaining said catalyst.

TL/DR: It completely backfired on Bungie's end.

But, that's where this Second Faction War comes in. What if in future content, be it Annual Pass or DLC, Symmetry and Concordat return? Symmetry believes in the Darkness' necessity. Concordat seeks to take over the city. A combination of these two former factions and a new uprising, will spring the Factions to unite under one banner, give the Faction Rally (or a new form of it) weight and reason to partake while expanding on the internal conflicts that don't necessarily involve the forces of Darkness. AND it can open the doors to a PVP revamp since it will be Guardians vs Guardians. All in all it would be a fascinating event if it ever comes into fruition, as those of us who are into lore, we can say that a lot of attention is put on the forces of Darkness (Hive especially) and not enough on the Guardians, at least not as much as back in Destiny 1. And even then we had do dig through grimoire cards to find anything.

But yes, as we enter Year Three with Season 8 and Shadowkeep, I'm looking forward to seeing what Bungie has up their sleeves in terms of their storytelling. Like it was said in Bungie's reveal stream last week, Destiny's "story" is structured as how life works--you progress and things just happen, rather than have a linear structure from beginning to end. I personally want to see more of the City Post Red War. With the Speaker and Cayde gone as well, The Consensus is slowly chipping away. Guardians must be feeling antsy. Calus is pulling us in one direction, the Drifter is talking about a second collapse. And Ikora and Zavala are overwhelmed. In other words someone is bound to rise up and suggest that things need to be changed to keep the peace.

And what man could do such a thing aside from Lysander of the Concordat? And truth be told, what if he was biding his time for such an event, when the Consensus would be at its weakest?